Captain A Sutherland.
The death recently of Captain Arthur Sutherland marked the passing of one more of the dwindling group of master mariners who learned their profession in sail and then in steam.
Captain Sutherland was born in the Shetland Isles in 1874, and spent his early years in sailing ships around Cape Horn. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the ports on both coasts of North and South America, India, the Far East, and the west coast of Africa, and enjoyed the diverse experiences of sailing several hundred miles up the Amazon to Manaos and taking the 14-day rail journey from Vladivostok to Hamburg. He was wounded in 1917 when his ship was torpedoed. Subsequently he commmmanded American Troop Transports. He came to New Zealand in 1934, assisted at Captain Gifford's navigation school in Panama Street and was later on the Chatham islands run in the steamer Tees. He wa a member of the R.S.A. and took an active part in its affairs during the depression.
Captain Sutherland's first wife pre-deceased him several years ago. He is survived by his widow, two sons (Messrs W. J. Sutherland, Wellington and P. Sutherland, Upper Hutt), a daughter (Mrs C. M. Renner, Paekakariki) and also grandchildren.
(Obituary, newspaper in Wellington, New Zealand)